The subject of the present invention is a device for guiding fuel assemblies which is intended to bring it, while it is being loaded, to a location of a lower plate of the core intended to receive it in a nuclear reactor.
Various devices intended to fulfil this function are already known, such as those described in documents JR-A-2,588,689 and FR-A-2,614,128. The guiding device according to the latter document comprises=
a body, the horizontal size of which corresponds to that of a fuel assembly, intended to rest on the core plate, equipped with holding means intended to be grasped by an assembly-handling machine, extended downwards by means for positioning it on the lower core plate at an assembly location adjacent to the one intended to receive the assembly to be guided, and PA1 two wings carried by the bottom part of the body, forming an angle of 90.degree. in a horizontal plane, each one having an inclined guide face ending at the bottom at the location intended to receive the assembly when the device is installed.
Such a device is placed, with the aid of the mast of the loading machine, at the location diagonally adjacent to the one which is to receive an assembly to be loaded. It makes it possible to bring the base of the assembly to its correct location and facilitates the engagement of the centring holes with which the assembly is equipped in the fingers of the plate which are intended to receive them, even when the assembly has been deformed as a result of earlier irradiation.
In this known device, the wings are fastened rigidly to the body. They make the overall size of the device in plan view very much greater than that of a fuel assembly and as a consequence complicate the handling and storage of the device. What is more, the device cannot be used for guiding an edge assembly into its receiving location.